TV Analysis

Post image for The Guessing Game 2009 — Renewals and Cancellations
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Part 1 of 3

    The Upfronts are fast approaching and I need to post what I think will happen (if only to say TOLDJA!).

    Let the Guessing Game begin!

    First, the renewals.

    Lots of shows are on the bubble as always this time of year.
    Ergo, it’s the perfect moment to play the guessing game of what is coming back/getting canceled.

    Some of the educated guesses on here are mainly follow-ups to my durability thinking in the Spec Script 2009 list I gave a couple of months ago.

    Shows that are not on this list have either been already declared canceled (My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break, etc.), have already been renewed (24, Ugly Betty, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, etc.), or I don’t care much about/forgot about.

    Since I’m crazy, often wrong, and especially suicidal, here is my guess list:

    Cold Case
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: This renewal fight is between Cold Case and Without a Trace. Given that Trace has more decent numbers than Cold Case,
    Why not?: The show is the youngest of the two.

    Eleventh Hour
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: A lot of other, new, procedural-type shows are coming CBS’ way.
    Why not?: Bruckheimer.

    Flashpoint
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Epic Friday ratings. Add to that the fact that more and more shows are being co-produced, and Flashpoint is here for the long run.
    Why not?: No real reason.

    How I Met Your Mother
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: I think it still has one season under its sleeve.
    Why not?: Average ratings for a CBS sitcom, and both The Big Bang Theory & Two and a Half Men have already been renewed for multiple seasons.

    The Mentalist
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Duh.
    Why not?: CBS execs have realised it’s a Psych copy-cat.

    The New Life of Old Christine
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Has been disposable ever since it was launched.
    Why not?: If the upcoming sitcoms are complete failures, the show might see another day.

    Rules of Engagement
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: The show is pulling in better numbers than CSI: Miami.
    Why not?: Like Old Christine, the show is fairly disposable and has mostly those ratings thanks two its lead-in.

    Without a Trace
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: See above regarding Cold Case.
    Why not?: The show is old and expensive.

    Worst Week
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Pulled out of sked, low ratings.
    Why not?: Jesus has returned.

    Chuck
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Like I previously said, I doubt NBC would leave to die a heavily-promoted show, especially after putting so much money in the 3-D episode, even if the ratings are average.
    Why not?: Everyone and their mothers are saying it’s canned.

    Kings
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Thoroughly under-promoted, a lame timeslot followed by an even lamer timeslot followed by the show being pushed back to Summer.
    Why not?: Good question.

    Life
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: The show was on average pulling worse ratings than Knight Rider or My Own Worst Enemy.
    Why not?: My prayers worked.

    Medium
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Because I want it to.
    Why not?: Sundays at 10PM, right doc?

    My Name is Earl
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Change is coming and they need to clean out a bit their Thursday lineup.
    Why not?: The ratings, even though average, are still decent compared to the rest of the NBC shows.

    Parks & Recreation
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: The show pulls in pretty decent numbers…
    Why not?: …despite its very late start.

    Southland
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: The show pulls in pretty decent numbers despite its very late start.
    Why not?: NBC’s sked is getting smaller and smaller.

    Better Off Ted
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: In the same rating-zone as Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money once were.
    Why not?: No reason why it should get renewed, Better Off Dead.

    Castle
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Lackluster ratings (and reviews) and ABC needs to shed some shows to make room for the new.
    Why not?: I don’t want Nathan Fillion to be jobless.

    Cupid
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: No time for third chances.
    Why not?: Why not, not?

    Scrubs
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Everyone has moved on.
    Why not?: It would be a good prank to renew it.

    The Unusuals
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: Very late start and mediocre ratings.
    Why not?: ABC might take pity on Harold Perrineau.

    Bones
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Decent to good ratings.
    Why not?: Don’t you want to continue be bored?

    Dollhouse
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: All those reasons.
    Why not?: All these reasons.

    Fringe
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: “By the writers of Star Trek comes the new season of Fringe.“
    Why not?: In one of the many parallel universes out there, the show gets canned.

    House M.D.
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Best. Ratings. Ever.
    Why not?: The Upfronts will be on April Fool’s Day 2010.

    Lie to Me
    My guess: Renewed
    Why?: Also has great ratings and a known star.
    Why not?: I would be lying if I said it was gonna get canceled.

    The Sarah Connor Chronicles
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: More or less the same reasons as Dollhouse. The ratings are bad and FOX isn’t happy.
    Why not?: Send back an army of viewers in time to watch the show.

    Sit Down, Shut Up
    My guess: Canceled
    Why?: The poor ratings are tanking FOX’s Sunday night.
    Why not?: The ratings the show would pull next year would be (sadly) funnier than the show itself. Yes, I’m harsh.

    The next Guessing Game will be about the pilots that are going to get picked up, so stay tuned.


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    Post image for ABCannes

    ABCannes

    by Alex on April 23, 2009

    in Entertainment Talk,News,TV Analysis

    The busy week continues for me but at least I have time to post for you guys the several news of today, most of them having to do with ABC.

    First, early pick-ups for the network.
    The list doesn’t seem that surprising: Obviously Lost (for its final season), Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Private Practice, and Ugly Betty.

    Nothing about the new shows though (The Unusuals, Better Off Ted, Castle and In the Motherhood), as well as Scrubs (most likely the last season anyway).

    ABC will also be showing a preview of next season’s Flash Forward series next week during the Lost episode.
    I loved the pilot script back then, so I’m anxious to find out how it looks like on the screen.
    My guess is, they’ll show the freeway sequence.

    In movie news, the Cannes line-up was announced today:

    OPENER
    “Up,” U.S., Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

    CLOSER
    “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” France, Jan Kounen

    IN COMPETITION
    “Bright Star,” Australia-U.K.-France, Jane Campion
    “Spring Fever,” China-France, Lou Ye
    “Antichrist,” Denmark-Sweden-France-Italy, Lars von Trier
    “Enter the Void,” France, Gaspar Noe
    “Face,” France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium, Tsai Ming-liang
    “Les Herbes folles,” France-Italy, Alain Resnais
    “In the Beginning,” France, Xavier Giannoli
    “A Prophet,” France, Jacques Audiard
    “The White Ribbon,” Germany-Austria-France, Michael Haneke
    “Vengeance,” Hong Kong-France-U.S., Johnnie To
    “The Time That Remains,” Israel-France-Belgium-Italy, Elia Suleiman
    “Vincere,” Italy-France, Marco Bellocchio
    “Kinatay,” Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
    “Thirst,” South Korea-U.S., Park Chan-wook
    “Broken Embraces,” Spain, Pedro Almodovar
    “Map of the Sounds of Tokyo,” Spain, Isabel Coixet
    “Fish Tank,” U.K.-Netherlands, Andrea Arnold
    “Looking for Eric,” U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Ken Loach
    “Inglourious Basterds,” U.S., Quentin Tarantino
    “Taking Woodstock,” U.S., Ang Lee

    OUT OF COMPETITION
    “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Canada-France, Terry Gilliam
    “The Army of Crime,” France, Robert Guediguian
    “Agora,” Spain, Alejandro Amenabar

    MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
    “A Town Called Panic,” Belgium, Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar
    “Ne te retourne pas,” France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Italy, Marina de Van
    “Drag Me to Hell,” U.S., Sam Raimi

    SPECIAL SCREENINGS
    “Petition,” China, Zhao Liang
    “L’epine dans le coeur,” France, Michel Gondry
    “Min ye,” France-Mali, Souleyumane Cisse
    “Jaffa,” Israel-France-Germany, Keren Yedaya
    “Manila,” Philippines, Adolfo Alix Jr., Raya Martin
    “My Neighbor, My Killer,” U.S., Anne Aghion

    UN CERTAIN REGARD
    “Samson & Delilah,” Australia, Warwick Thornton
    “Adrift,” Brazil, Heitor Dhalia
    “The Wind Journeys,” Colombia, Ciro Guerra
    “Demain des l’aube,” France, Denis Dercourt
    “Irene,” France, Alain Cavalier
    “Air Doll,” Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda
    “Independance,” Philippines-France-Germany, Raya Martin
    “Le Pere de mes enfants,” France-Germany, Mia Hansen-Love
    “Dogtooth,” Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos
    “Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats,” Iran, Bahman Ghobadi
    “Eyes Wide Open,” Israel, Haim Tabakman
    “Mother,” South Korea, Bong Joon-ho
    “The Silent Army,” Netherlands, Jean van de Velde
    “To Die Like a Man,” Portugal, Joao Pedro Rodrigues
    “Police, Adjective,” Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu
    “Tales from the Golden Age,” Romania, Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru
    “Tale in the Darkness,” Russia, Nikolay Khomeriki
    “Tzar,” Russia-France, Pavel Lounguine
    “Nymph,” Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang
    “Precious,” U.S., Lee Daniels

    FEATURE FILM JURY
    Isabelle Huppert (president), actress, France
    Asia Argento, actress, director, screenwriter, Italy
    Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director, screenwriter, actor, Turkey
    Lee Chang-dong, director, author, screenwriter, South Korea
    James Gray, director, screenwriter, U.S.
    Hanif Kureishi, author, screenwriter, U.K.
    Shu Qi, actress, Taiwan
    Robin Wright Penn, actress, U.S.

    LA CINEFONDATION AND SHORT FILM JURY
    John Boorman (president), director, author, producer, U.K.
    Bertrand Bonello, director, France
    Ferid Boughedir, director, Tunisia
    Leonor Silveira, actress, Portugal
    Zhang Ziyi, actress, China

    Maybe I’ll finally be able to go.


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    Post image for Bursting the Bubble

    Bursting the Bubble

    by Alex on April 20, 2009

    in News,TV Analysis

    As the Upfronts are approaching, looks like everyone is talking about the shows “on the bubble”. Chuck, Dollhouse, Medium, Cold Case, you name it.

    A friend of mine told me it was way too early to try the guessing game so I suppose I’ll post my pick-up guess list in a week or two, even though I already have my own idea of what is going to be picked up or cancelled, and it’s not necessarily what most people think.

    In the meantime, like I said, several websites have their own grids up, or at least are asking people to vote in to save a show.
    You have USA Today, and even the Canadian TV Guide.
    And of course E!‘s Kristin annual “Save One Show” campain.

    The Hollywood Reporter also has its own little article relating to bubble shows.
    I wouldn’t be as optimistic nor sombre as they are on some of the shows listed though.

    Also up on THR is the early buzz regarding upcoming pilots.
    Unsurprisingly, ABC’s Flash Forward is a lock for series order. I’m thinking it’s going to be coupled with Lost.
    Same goes for FOX’s Human Target which in my opinion will either be put with Dollhouse, or, if the show gets canned, with 24.
    No surprises as well with Eastwick, Happy Town, and V, most likely getting picked up.

    In the meantime, Syfyllis is teaming up with non other than Will Smith to produce Unfinished Business, a spin-off to Medium with the main character being Miles from Lost.
    Wait, I’m sorry, I’m being told the show is actually about an ex-cop that can see the memories of recently dead people.
    The pilot should be penned by Iron Jawed Angels’s Sally Robinson and directed by Band of Brothers’ Mikael Salomon.


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    Post image for Four Reasons why Dollhouse will be Cancelled

    As promised, here is my follow-up article to my previous Four Reasons why Dollhouse might be Renewed. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that Whedon’s Dollhouse is going to be gone soon, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
    Okay, that may not exactly be what is going to happen, but if we’re facing the harsh and bitter reality, FOX, the “notoriously-fickle” network, is often going one-way with shows that are not instant hits.
    It’s hard, but here are four reasons why I believe Dollhouse will get cancelled.

    Reason 1 : Ratings The most obvious reason on this list: ratings are bad, real bad. Only 3.6 million viewers tuned in last Friday, the same numbers as for The Sarah Connor Chronicles season (series?) finale. The rest is pretty much straightforward: in the conventional TV world, bad ratings mean no renewal. And if you’re thinking of a pity renewal just there, Dollhouse as of yet still does not have as strong a following as Firefly has, so a pity renewal has yet to be seen regarding fanbase. Though the numbers have been steady, they are, at the end of the day, very weak, and weak is not good.

    Reason 2 : Death Slot This reason is quite self-explanatory. It’s no secret that Friday is also known as the death slot. Movies open on Fridays, people like to go out on Friday nights, almost no one is left to watch some TV. And when you combine Friday night with FOX, you get cancellation. Take a look at the 20 shows that were in this same death slot and were subsequently cancelled in the last 10 years, or just ask Firefly and Wonderfalls. Friday nights on FOX have always been the place where shows go to die in pain. Also, Tim Minear is producing the show, and we all know that Fox and Minear do not compute.

    Reason 3 : Slow on the Uptale Last time we were here discussing in length the Dollhouse, I was talking about something I called the “Fourth Media Dilemma”. Picking up for a second season Dollhouse, despite its atrocious ratings and FOX’s precedents regarding the death slot, would mean in some way recognizing the (good) iTunes and Hulu numbers of the show, and therefore officially giving some power to the Internet, or at least acknowledging it. I doubt FOX execs have the balls to give some credit to the Internet just yet and basically vet the Fourth Media in relation to a TV show’s fate. TV execs are known to be “slow on the uptake”, or at the very least having a hard time acknowledging new technologies and new forms of content. This is basically no different, if not greater than that. A renewal would mean showing faith in iTunes sales, and this is a one-way leap of faith. Is FOX really ready to take that step?

    Reason 4 : Direct-to-DVD Last Thursday was announced that the “real” first (and only?) season finale of Dollhouse would only be available on DVD and not be shown on FOX, à la Middleman (although there the finale wasn’t actually produced, albeit available only in comic-book format). The official reason behind such a move is because FOX has already fulfilled its 13-episode order via the pilot’s reshooting. Tim Minear explained this better:

    Because we scrapped the original pilot — and in fact cannibalized some of its parts for other eps — we really ended up with 12 episodes. But the studio makes DVD and other deals based on the original 13 number. So we created a standalone kind of coda episode. Which is the mythical new episode 13. The network had already paid for 13 episodes, and this included the one they agreed to let us scrap for parts. It does not include the one we made to bring the number back up to 13 for the studio side and its obligations.

    If you believe in the show getting renewed, you’re going to show what looks like the best episode of the series and show it to the world as soon as you can.
    If you don’t, on the other hand, no point in wasting your precious broadcast time for a dead show walking.
    You’ve gotta admit though that FOX not even bothering to broadcast the final episode shows a certain lack of trust in Dollhouse’s future to say the least.
    Ultimately, my previous “renewal” reasons are still valid, and, depending on your dubiousness, you can side either way on Dollhouse’s fate.
    Hope is still not lost, and FOX might still have the balls to renew Dollhouse (and The Sarah Connor Chronicles for that matter).
    Like always: Watch, Wait, and See.


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    This morning were unveiled the 2008 Peabody Award winners, including HBO’s Entourage (!) & John Adams, ABC’s Lost, and AMC’s Breaking Bad.

    The award ceremony will take place on May 18 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and will be hosted by NBC’s Brian Williams.

    What is most peculiar is that among the winners is non other than YouTube.
    Add to that The Onion’s online news-network, and the NY Times’ website, and you’ve got yourself the first time Web entities actually receive the coveted prize.

    Interestingly enough, the Peabody Award has now become an “International Competition for Electronic Media, honoring achievement in Television, Radio, Cable and the Web.”

    The technological shift continues as Disney just got itself a 30% share in Hulu, making it equal partner with NBC-U and News Corp.
    Providence Equity Partners still has its 10%.

    The following seemed odly appropriate:

    Everyone is trying to get on board now it seems.

    CBS is still on the sideline though, sticking with YouTube who is launching April 16 its premium content site and Hulu’s main competitor, Sling.

    Somewhat ironically, only clips of ABC’s shows will be available on YouTube.

    In the meantime, Business Week has just posted an article in why Hulu attracts eyes, but not advertisers.

    Venture Beat notes another ironic subtext: Apple’s Steve Jobs is also the largest shareholder at Disney’s table as well as on the board of directors. Ultimately it seems that Hulu’s free ad-supported streaming will have to go head to head with the iTunes’ ad-free pricey content.

    Let the fighting continue (or is it begin?).
    The times, they are a-changin’.


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